"I wonder what they're doin' home tonight?"
Jim said--
We sat there, in the yellow firelight,
There, in a house in France--
Some of us, maybe thinkin' of romance--
Some of us missin' buddies who was dead--
And some just dreamin'
Sorter hardly seemin'
Ter make th' dream come clear.
An' then--Jim spoke--
"I wonder what they're doin' home ternight?"
Says Jim--
An' some of us felt, well--as if we'd like
Ter smother him!
An' some of us tried hard-like not ter choke,
Th' smoke
Was pretty thick an' black!
A-thinkin' back,
Across th' ocean I could sort of see
A little house that means just all ter me
And, though nobody said a word I knew
Their thoughts was goin' on th' self-same track--
Thoughts do
Out here, in France.
Home--HOME--No wonder that we all was still--
For one of us was thinkin' of a hill,
With pine trees on it black against th' moon--
And one of us was dreaming of a town,
All drab an' brown--
An' one of us was lookin'--far an' high
Ter some one who had gone back home too soon
To that real home that is beyond the sky.
Nobody of us spoke fer quite a while--
We didn't smile--
We just sat still an' wondered when there'd be
An order for ter send us home--
Back 'crost the sea.
Th' war was won--
An' we was DONE!
We wanted faces that we loved an' knew,
An' voices too--
We sat an' watched th' dancin' fire fling
Its shadders on th' floor--
Bright shapes, an' dim.
An' then Jim coughed as if his throat was sore,
An'--"Say--let's sing!"
Says Jim.